Courage
by SongOfTheBirds
Summary: When Nyx is rescued from the School, she isn't expecting the sudden kindness and warmth from the Avengers she barely knew. But everything dissolves when they receive an assignment: Invade the School. Faced with the return to her nightmare, can Nyx gather the courage to continue, or will everything dissolve in the night?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: This is not my first fanfiction, but it is the first one I've posted. Please review! And please don't flame, because that hurts, but constructive criticism is great!**

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_Footsteps echoed in the room. I pushed myself into the back of my cage. The footsteps came closer and paused outside of my dog crate. I bent my body into a smaller ball. Sometimes, being ten percent cat had its advantages. A face appeared in front of my door._

_"Where is Max and the others?" A voice hissed. My heart leaped. This was the escape that Max had promised, I was sure of it. Crawling to the front of my tiny prison, I pointed the best I could in my friend's direction. The face disappeared, and I listened to footsteps move hurriedly away._

_"Jeb!" Max hissed. I heard the creaking of doors and more feet on the hard floor. Fang's familiar jog approached my door. He tugged at the bolt._

_"We have to get Nyx," he whispered._

_"Yeah. We can't leave Nyx." Iggy said. I heard a sigh, shifting weight._

_"Can she fly?" The voice that I had heard earlier asked flatly._

_"No, but she can run like heck and jump a bazillion feet." Max answered._

_"She can't come."_

_"But Jeb-"_

_"She can't come. Let's go." Footsteps started again, along with a dragging sound. A hand swooped down and plucked Fang out of sight._

_"No! Nyx!" Max squealed. Her voice was muffled._

_"Max!" I cried. "Don't leave me!"_

I snapped my eyes open, dispelling the dream. It was more than a dream - it was a memory. Footsteps echoed in the now Flockless room, and I closed my eyes again. My breathing slowed until it looked like I was still asleep.

"How do you propose getting her out?" A voice asked quietly. I barely stopped my giant cat ears from flicking. Me? Getting out?

_"Stark is jamming the cameras now."_ Another voice said. It was crackly and muffled, like it was coming from a radio or something. _"You can take her out the back."_

"Will do." Someone tapped my cage. "Hey there."

"If you're a whitecoat, get the heck out. If you're a new kid, sorry you got trapped here, there's no way out, go to sleep. If you're an Eraser, go run into a wall and die." I said.

The person chuckled. _Chuckled!_ "What if I'm none of those?"

"Then congratulations on getting in, I hope your death is quick."

"Are you always this pessimistic?"

"Are you always this talkative?"

"Got me there. I'm here to break you out."

In her defense, the person didn't flinch as I cracked one eye open. "The last person that told me that was dragged away by a whitecoat and I never saw her again."

"I have some very powerful friends." She picked the lock on my cage and swung the door open. "You coming?"

"Any strings attached?"

"Do I look like a puppet?"

I made a show of looking the woman over. "Nope. So...who do I thank for this glorious rescue?"

"Natasha Romanoff. And you are?"

"Subject Seven. Or, if you rather, that girl who has a room to herself because the birdkids made it out and left her behind."

"Don't you have a name?"

"I had friends that called me Nyx. Or Ice, sometimes." I was careful to keep an expressionless mask.

"I'll call you that then. So, Nyx, shall we go?"

"Let's." As Natasha led me away from the crate that had been my home for twelve years, I didn't look back. Not even as we exited via the back door, or boarded the small black jet.

That life was behind me now.

**(Line break)**

When I imagined my escape, it didn't include a jet, New York City, or a giant tower with an 'A' on it. But this one did. Not that I was complaining - I was happy to be out of the School. But I wasn't entirely ready for landing in the middle of _New York City. _For one thing, I still had my flimsy hospital gown on.

"Is there anywhere I can change?" I asked Natasha.

She nodded. "I'll show you."

Natasha led me down a stairwell to a hallway. She opened one of the doors. "This will be your room."

All caution went out the window as soon as I saw my room. It was huge, with thick rugs on a hardwood floor. There were giant curtains on the windows, a little metal box thing next to a desk, and more doors that I threw open as soon as I could. Behind the doors was a huge room with a sink and a toilet that I vaguely remembered being called a bathroom. There was a closet too, already stocked with clothes. I couldn't help but wave my tail in excitement.

"This is mine?" I asked. Natasha nodded, smiling slightly. I pointed to the clothes. "Those are mine?"

Another nod.

"I can put them on?"

"Come out to the lounge after you change." Natasha said. "JARVIS will tell you where it is."

I started to ask who JARVIS was, but Natasha was gone. Shrugging to myself, I turned back to the closet, noting ruefully that none of the pants had slits. Of course, no one was planning that I had a tail.

After cutting a hole in a pair of jeans and throwing the pair on, along with a slightly larger than needed shirt, I left my room.

"The lounge is down the hall and to the right, Ms. Ice." A voice said.

I jumped, spinning in midair. "Who's there?"

"I am JARVIS, Ms. Ice." The voice - Jarvis - said.

"Oh. Okay then. Um...thanks."

"Anytime, Ms. Ice." Our short conversation came to a close. I flicked my big cat ears and continued in my original path. Voices began to filter down the hall as I reached the lounge area.

"I didn't sign up to be a babysitter!" One voice complained as I stepped into the room. In a split second I identified the speaker, moved, and had him pinned against the wall.

"And I didn't sign up to be babysat by a guy who smells like metal. I guess we both have something to complain about, huh?" I said coldly, keeping a tight grip on the man's collar.

"Nyx. Put him down." Natasha had risen from her chair. I flicked my ears in acknowledgement, stepping back and releasing the man. Then I wiped my hands on my jeans.

"What do you eat, copper?" I asked.

"What?" he replied.

"The whitecoats made me identify different metals by smell only once. You smell strongly of iron, copper, and something else."

"It's the suit," Natasha called. I took a closer look at the man. He wasn't wearing a suit. I was about to mention that when Natasha spoke again, "He doesn't wear it all the time."

"Oh."

"Nat, are you going to be polite and introduce us?" Another man asked.

Natasha rolled her eyes. "Sure. Nyx, this is Agent Clint Barton, Captain Steve Rogers, Dr. Bruce Banner, and the guy you just attacked is Tony Stark. Thor should be here soon."

"Why do they call you Nyx?" The second man - Clint - asked.

I looked at him and brushed away my bangs. "Good enough answer?"

"Is that normal?" Bruce flicked his gaze from one of my eyes to the other. I was fully aware they were two different colors, and I was fully aware that the colors weren't natural. I mean, how many people do you see with one black eye and one white eye?

"I was an experiment, Doctor. Of course it isn't normal." I looked pleadingly at Natasha. "Can I go to bed now? I kind of just broke out of prison and I'm tired."

"Greetings, friends!" A booming voice called. I spun around. A man was walking towards me, his hand raised.

"Thor, wait!" Natasha called, but too late. I was already moving. In a split second I had pinned the man on the floor.

"You can let him up now, Nyx. He wasn't going to hurt you." Bruce's voice was soft and kind.

"Sorry." I got up quickly. "I'm going to bed now."


	2. Chapter 2

I shoved all the blankets to one corner of the bed, creating a large pile before I dug out a hole in the middle of it. Then I sighed and curled up in the nest I had created. That was better. At least for the moment.

_"Nyx! Wait up!" The voice shrieked. I spun on my heel, darted back, and swept Nudge into my arms. The Erasers were howling, closing in-_

I forced my eyes open. There was no way I was going to relive my years at the School; it just wasn't going to happen. The blankets provided a warm, secure shelter, not like anything I've had before. Slowly my eyes drifted closed again...

_"I told you to _fight_!" The whitecoat screamed at me. I stood at the corner of the small arena, shivering. I hadn't sprouted a thick layer of fur like the other cat hybrids. Instead a thin fuzz made my skin shine, especially now in the frigid weather of winter. Behind me the angry whitecoat slammed a button, sending a course of electricity through my tiny body. I jumped and yelped, but I wasn't going to fight. Not now. Not Iggy._

"Nyx?" A voice called. I woke with a screech, automatically lashing out with my claws, expecting to feel the familiar scrape of a plastic side. Instead I felt my claws slide across flesh, and heard someone muffle a cry of pain.

"Omigosh! Dr. Banner, I'm so sorry!" I sat up, my eyes still closed. All those years in the School and I still hated the sight of blood.

"No, no, it's alright." Banner said softly. "How did you know it was me?"

I shuffled my hands on the bed. "Your smell." I could almost feel the question that was coming. "You smell a lot different than the others. You smell like...chemicals. And bleach. Anyway, why did you wake me up?"

"You can open your eyes now, the blood is gone. I came to get you. Apparently Director Fury wants to meet you."

I cautiously cracked my eyes open. "Huh?"

**\/\/\/Line\/\/\/**

Banner didn't say much after that. Which was kind of unfortunate, because I would've rather he talked instead of sitting in that awkward, scary silence. We - me, Banner, Natasha, Rogers, and Barton - were in a jet, flying to S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters. Stark and Thor would meet us there later.

"So...um...who's Fury?" I said slowly.

"Fury's the director of S.H.I.E.L.D." Natasha replied.

"Brilliant. What's S.H.I.E.L.D.?"

"S.H.I.E.L.D. stands for Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division."

I nodded slowly. "I have a vague idea of what that means."

A shadow of a smile flickered across Barton's face. "We're spies, mostly."

"Boo yeah." I flashed a grin at him. "Spying's what I do best. Well, that and eating. And fighting. But other than that!"

They laughed. It felt good to make someone laugh. It was something I had never done before.

We approached a giant floating ship thing, and my grin disappeared in favor of a look of shock. My mouth dropped open. Natasha caught a glimpse of my face and smiled slightly. I quickly clamped my jaw shut, but the awe didn't leave. Of all the crazy things I had seen in my life - which, believe me, is a lot - I had never seen a flying _ship._ And that's saying something.

The jet touched down quite gently. As soon as the exit began to creak down, I unbuckled and bounded out on all fours. People jumped away from me. I paid them no mind. New scents were exploding in my nose and I began to sneeze. Violently. My eyes watered until I could barely see. Banner laughed softly.

"What's-_choo_-happening to-_achoo!_-me?" I huffed out.

"First experience with allergies?" Barton asked.

"How-_choo-_do you know-_choo!_-allergies?"

"Well, I don't _know,_ specifically. It's just an educated guess. And stop rubbing." Slowly I stopped wiping my face on my arms. "Let's go inside before you sneeze your nose off."

"That-**_achoo!_**-can happen?" He didn't answer save for a sigh, and soon we entered the belly of the beast.

**\/\/\/\/Line\/\/\/\/**

I slunk behind Natasha, my ears laid flat and my tail puffed to almost three times its original size. People in suits and catsuits didn't try to hide the looks they gave me. Some even did double takes. In response, I didn't hide the glares I gave in return. Finally Natasha announced, "This is it."

I stifled a sigh of relief. Which apparently didn't work, because Banner gave me a look before waving me in. Out of habit I sniffed the area before I went inside the room. My nose wrinkled. It smelled _disgusting_.

"Get in here." A voice rasped. I nearly laughed. He gave an order? To _me_? Banner gave me another look and walked in himself. I made a quick check around me. Rogers, Barton, and Natasha were already in the room. Well then. That left me with little (read: no) choice but to follow them. So I stepped inside. Natasha waved me to the single empty chair. I hopped up onto it, perching on my toes, ready to jump at any moment. The man I assumed to be Fury looked at me over his desk. His dark skin was something that I had seen, if rarely, but I had never seen a person with one eye.

"Are you an experiment too?" I couldn't help but ask.

The man grunted in response, so Banner was the one that asked, "What do you mean by that?"

"He's missing an eye. Sometimes at School they would do surgeries and after the surgeries some of the experiments couldn't see or hear or smell. None of them had only one eye that worked. At least, not in my wing. They never experimented on me like that, though some of them wanted to see what it would do to my ears." I reached up to scratch the back of my left ear. Instinct kicked in and my ear twitched.

"What do you mean, what it would do to your ears?" Natasha asked.

"All the other kids had ears of normal capacity. So that's what the surgery was designed for. My ears don't hear at a normal human capacity. For instance, Banner's heartrate is elevated - has been since we landed - and so is Tony's since he has apparently decided to spy on us. Oh, and there's another person standing outside. I think they're eavesdropping. That's what it's called, right?"

"Something like that." Tony said as he entered. "I'll give you this. You are one perceptive kid."


End file.
